


The One Who is Owed Everything, and Gets Nothing

by Earths_best_defender



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Sadness, Spoilers, tony deserved better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-04-24 12:19:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19173142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Earths_best_defender/pseuds/Earths_best_defender
Summary: Tony went from the who has everything and nothing to the man who is owed everything, but got nothing in the end.





	The One Who is Owed Everything, and Gets Nothing

**Author's Note:**

> This is really just a fic to establish myself on this account. My other account is earthsbestdefender. I made this one so I can post some darker stuff with having to worry about my sisters reading it and getting judgy (I made the mistake of telling my og account) (I will still post stuff on that account)
> 
> Anyway, with no further adieu! This slice of sad goodness!

Tony sank to the ground, pain burned through the entire right side of his body. He attempted to take a breath, but his body refused to serve and give him the small comfort of air. He let his mouth fall open in the hopes that he could get at least one tiny breath of the putrid smoke filled air. He finally managed one tiny inhale, and it burned inside of him like a ferocious fire, searing his throat. When let out an equally tiny exhale, blood welled in the back of his throat. He choked, but his body was so far gone not even his reflexes worked any more. Tony focused his blurring vision on the ground. For a brief moment he thought about attempting to hold on for help to come, but he was alone. There was no point. No one could help. It was time to let go.

The sound of thrusters hit Tony’s ears, and he forced himself to look up from the ground. Rhodey was there, standing above him. Tony forced a weak smile across his face. There was no point in saving his strength for anything else. He was still going to die.

“Hey Tones,” Rhodey whispered, and placed his hand on Tony’s cheek. He didn’t say anything else. Tony didn’t need him to in order to understand what he was saying. He could see it in his best friends eyes. He was proud of him. Tony knew he was going to die, but he was glad he had held on just a little longer, because now he wasn’t alone.

Then Peter appeared in Tony’s line of vision. His mouth was moving like he was speaking, but none of the sound made it to Tony’s ears. Nothing registered. Nothing but pain that is. It was growing mounting up inside his shattered body. Tony wished that he had died before Peter had arrived. The tears staining the kid’s face ripped holes and failing heart. 

Then the kid was being pulled away from him, and Pepper took his place. Tony forced words from his dry throat. He had to. For her he had to be strong. 

“Hey Pepp,” The words came out more like a weak breath than real words.

Pepper looked Tony over with a sad smile. Tony could see the heart broken resignation in her blue eyes. She placed his hand against his chest. She said something that Tony couldn’t quite catch, and whatever she heard in reply  wasn’t good because he saw her flinch. Tony leaned his head away from her, not necessarily on purpose. It just happened.

“Hey.”

Her strong voice sliced through the haze that had fallen over him.

“Tony, look at me,” He voice was stern and demanding, and so soft and gentle.

Tony forced himself to look up at her. She looked him deep in the eyes.

“We’re going to be okay.”

And then Tony felt it. He felt it leave his body. One last weak shuttering exhale. He tried to take it back. He wanted to so bad. He wanted to stay with Pepper. He wanted to be strong and hold on so bad, but he could not take back the breath he had spent.

“You can rest now…”

The words sank in just as his vision blurred and settled into blackness. The last thing he felt was not pain, it was his wife’s lips pressing against his cheek. It was over.

* * *

 

Pepper looked into her husband’s eyes hoping to see some last spark of life in them, but there was nothing. No gleam, no life, his eyes were blank and hollow, glossy with the pain that had been his last moments. She took a weak breath and gently reached up and closed his eyes. She took his left hand in hers and held it to her cheek as sobs shook her body. His hand was still warm against her cheek, and she cried harder. Her stomach twisted in her gut as she kissed his hand. She wanted to throw up.

He was gone. 

She felt Rhodey wrap a reassuring arm around her shoulders. She leaned into his embrace still holding Tony’s now cold hand in hers.

“Mrs. Potts.”

The voice behind her was apologetic and forlorn. She looked up to see the wizard who had torn him away from five years ago when this had all begun.

“I’m sorry to say this, but we must remove the… the stones from…” He trailed off.

Pepper nodded a little.

Stephen Strange ducked his head respectfully and reached out his hand toward Tony’s body. Out of nowhere anger boiled up inside of Pepper. She slapped the doctor’s hand out of the way. 

“Don’t touch him!” she shouted.

Strange recoiled. 

He was trying to take from him. That was all anyone did. They took, and they took again, and they never gave back. He was dead and they were still trying to take from him.

“Pepper,” Rhodey whispered as Pepper pulled away from him.

“No!” Pepper shouted, and lifted Tony’s limp body into her arms. He felt light and fragile in her clutches.

“Mrs. Potts-”

“No! You have taken enough from him!” She screamed, tears welling in her eyes. She didn’t really know what she was doing, just that she had to do something, “You have stolen EVERYTHING from him! You don’t get to take anything else!”

Before anyone gathered around could do anything, Pepper launched herself and her husband into the air, and flew away toward the blazing sunset.

* * *

 

Carol moved to leap after the woman as she disappeared into the sky, but Steve reached out his arm and grabbed hers. Carol stopped and looked at him in confusion.

“We can’t let her take the stones,” She protested.

She had been quite fond of Stark, and she understood the woman’s grief, but they still had a duty to the universe.

“I know. Just wait. Let Rhodey go. Pepper probably won’t let anyone else near her or Tony,” Steve replied, “It should be someone close to him anyway.”

Carol cast one last glance at the metal suit disappearing into the sunset, and stood down.

“I suppose I should go after her,” Rhodey said with a weak sigh, and rose to his feet. 

She could see the tears in the man’s eyes as his helmet closed around his face.

Carol watched the colonel leave and then turned her attention back to the gathered people.

“What did she mean you take everything?” Carol asked.

No one made eye contact with her as she scanned the remaining original Avengers. They all ducked their heads a little.

“He did a lot for us,” Bruce spoke up, “We never did much to repay him, or even thank him. We just asked more, and he gave it.”

Carol frowned.

“Is there nothing that can be done?” She asked to whoever might hold the answer. She knew that in war sometimes people made sacrifices, and that they stuck, but Tony Stark had just saved the whole universe, surely it owed him  _ something. _

One by one everyone shook their heads, even the gathered group of wizards didn’t look at her. It wasn’t fair. When she had taken the force of an infinity stone it had given her life and new power, where as for poor Stark they had obliterated his body, and killed him, taking everything.

* * *

 

Rhodey found Pepper sitting atop a mound boulders perched neatly on the top of a tall hill overlooking pretty much everything. The smoke from the battle could still be seen way far away, but she had her back to it. Rhodey stepped closer to her, and saw that she was still clinging to Tony’s body.

“Pepper,” He sighed, and she heard him and lifted her head a little, but didn’t turn around.

The stones still gleamed from the gauntlet that had been burned and infused into Tony’s right arm that now dangled useless in the air.

“It’s not fair,” She whispered.

“Pepper…” Rhodey couldn’t find any other words to say.

“What did he do to deserve this?” 

Rhodey sighed and sat down next to her on the rock. 

She had taken her suit off, and the majority of the remains of Tony’s suit had been removed as well. Rhodey allowed his own suit to retract and melt away. He didn’t know what to say to Pepper, so he just reached his hand out a rubbed her sweaty back.

“What are you doing?” He finally managed to ask. Tony’s body should be taken to a hospital where it could properly attended to. 

Pepper looked at him with tears in her eyes.

“One last sunset…” She whispered.

Rhodey sighed.

“Okay,” He agreed, “Then we take him to a hospital or-”

“No,” Pepper interrupted.

“What?”

“We bury him here,” Pepper stated.

“Pepper I don’t-”

“This is our property. We bury him hear, where he can rest, peacefully. We do it now before anyone else knows. Where I can mourn him in peace. We can build a memorial else where so people can mourn, but…” Pepper trailed off.

Rhodey nodded slowly, fighting off the tears as he glanced over at his dead friend and his shattered wife.

“We can do a… a different ceremony with everyone else, but this… this needs to be between just the four of us.

“Four?,” Rhodey questioned.

Pepper nodded, “I called Happy. He’ll be here soon.”

* * *

 

It was Pepper who placed Tony’s shattered body on the bed of flowers in the hole in the ground. She placed the arc reactor from her suit it his hands over his heart. In turn Rhodey placed his with Tony as well, and Happy placed the dead arc from Tony suit with him. Pepper was the last one to leave his side. She placed a kiss on his cold forehead, before finally pulling the sheet that Happy had brought over his body. She rose slowly to her feet, and climbed out of the hole. Together the three of them buried him, and placed a large flat bolder over the fresh dirt. They had used Rescue to engrave it. 

Pepper leaned into Rhodey’s shoulder, and Happy tucked his arms around both of them. They all wept as the universe that owed Tony Stark everything but gave him nothing watched from the twinkling stars burning billions of miles way.

 

_ The stars were there because of him, and yet there was nothing to be done by them. _

 

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea what the point of this was. It probably makes like no sense, but I don't really care... I was bored and wanted to post something, and am like also procrastinating...
> 
> Please leave kudos and comments!


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